January 31, 1995
Members of the Sprinkler Fitters Union 483 have been picketing by the J. Paul Leonard Library since winter break, denouncing the Grinnell Fire Protection Systems for not hiring its people.
The union has been picketing Grinnell sites since contract talks with the company disintegrated last August.
When the contract outlining the partnership between the union and Grinnell expired, they were unable to agree on a new contract. Without a new contract, Grinnell became nonsignatory: a company which does not hire union labor exclusively.
Pete Cerri, the business agent for Union 483, said Grinnell offered them an unacceptable contract with less benefits and wages.
Cerri said the union received support from campus faculty who are also union members.
"When we were picketing, people from the library gave us coffee and donuts. I talked to Tim Sampson (a member of the California Faculty Association) and he was very sympathetic. The campus police were very sympathetic, too," Cerri said.
Rick Gutierrez, chapter president of the CFA said all the unions on campus want to get involved with Union 483's strike but they are still in the planning stages.
Gutierrez said the unions are concerned that the university has employed a company that wasn't completely unionized. However, Gutierrez said the CFA is unclear whether the Chancellor's office or the university hired Grinnell. How experienced the nonunion sprinkler fitters are is also another issue, Gutierrez said.
Although Grinnell did not hire union sprinkler fitters to implement the sprinklers, the company did employ union electricians to set up the fire alarms.
The district manager from Grinnell declined to comment about exact details concerning the strike. However, Greg Van Akeen, a project manager for Grinnell, did say the company is paying all workers prevailing wages regardless of union membership.
Prevailing wages are the standard amount of hourly pay the unions require. A CSU campus must pay their employees prevailing wages under California state law, but private companies aren't required to do so.
Otto Remepel, a representative from the Chancellor's office who is overlooking construction at Burke Hall and the library, said the hourly wage for sprinkler installers is $39.20.
"Grinnell is paying them (the sprinkler fitters) that much but the company isn't using union people, that's what the protest is about," Remepel said.
Remepel said the CSU system contracted Grinnell because the company was the lowest bidder. There is also no requirement in CSU contracts for companies to use union workers, Remepel said.
When Union 483 started picketing in front of the library, the electricians honored their strike by refusing to work for two days. On the second day of the union's campus picket line, separate entrances were assigned to Grinnell and the union. The union members picket in front of the reserve book room while all Grinnell employees use the entrance between the library and University Club.
An electrician who wanted to remain anonymous said the purpose of the two-gate system is to, "enforce people to keep working. No good union man would cross a picket line so, if there are two gates one for the pickets and another for the company, the other workers don't have to worry about crossing a picket line."
The electrician also said the two-gate system slows down shipping supplies to the workers but doesn't create much trouble.
Despite losing two days of work due to absent electricians, Van Akeen said the picketing did not set construction back. He added that they should finish installing the alarm system in time which, he said would take a couple of months.